The Aulac Fortune arrived Tuesday morning in Hong
Kong for a bunkering stop after delivering a cargo of gasoline in Dongguan. The
explosion occurred at 1130 hours at a position about one nm to the south of
Lemma Island, an outlying residential district of the city. Multiple cargo
tanks were affected, including serious damage to a tank just forward of the
house. Residents reported that the blast was forceful enough to rattle windows
on several nearby islands.

In the meantime, the European Commission is to examine
Fincantieri’s proposed acquisition of French shipbuilding company Chantiers de
l’Atlantique.

The transaction is to be reviewed in the light of the EU
Merger Regulation, the European Commission said, adding that it considers
that the acquisition “could harm competition at European and global
level.”

Namely, the proposed acquisition does not reach the turnover
thresholds set by the EU Merger Regulation for transactions notifiable to the
European Commission because of their European dimension, the authority
explained. However, the plan was notified for authorisation in France and
Germany.

France submitted a referral request pursuant to Article
22(1) of the EU Merger Regulation. This provision allows Member States to
request that the Commission examine a concentration that does not have an EU
dimension but affects trade within the single market and threatens to
significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member States
making the request. Germany joined the referral request submitted by France.

On the basis of the information provided by France and
Germany, the Commission considers that the transaction “could
significantly harm competition in shipbuilding, in particular in the global
cruise ship market.”

The Commission also concluded that it was best placed to examine the potential cross-border effects of the transaction. Therefore the acquisition of Chantiers de l’Atlantique by Fincantieri will be fully examined.

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